At 21, jeweler Sean Criss probably sells as many garnets as any jeweler in America. Lately, he thinks he may be selling the most. While that may not be a distinction many of his peers are vying for, it fills him with pride anyway.
Criss is second-in-command at Federal Way Custom Jewelers in Federal Way, Washington, 30 miles south of Seattle and seven miles north of Tacoma. The store, which opened in 1955, was bought by his father Rene in 1981. Criss says he grew up in the business and inherited his father’s pronounced passion for colored stones, pursuing a private predilection for garnet as soon as he decided to work at jewelry retailing full time. “I’m known as the garnet guy around here,” he says.
No doubt about it, Federal Way Custom Jewelers is not your ordinary jewelry store. Only 30 percent of its gross sales come from diamonds; the remaining 70 percent comes from colored stones. Since garnet is Criss’ favorite gem, it is no accident that this complex, sprawling, dynastic group accounts for seven percent of all the store’s colored stone sales and may soon reach 10 percent. “There are eleven types of garnet, by my count, that are readily available for sale to jewelers,” Criss explains, “and you’ll find ten of them in this store right now.” And not just in ones and twos, but the half dozens and even dozens. In addition, Criss thinks he may be selling a breed or two before anyone else.
At present, the most popular garnet is a relative newcomer from Tanzania which the Crisses have named cherry garnet. “It was sold to us as something else, but we took one look at its juicy-red pie-filling color and rechristened it.”
Like any other most-wanted, cherry garnet has its share of aliases. When first discovered around 2005, miners sure there was some spessartite (academics prefer spessartine) DNA in the stone and marketed it as spessartite.
When he first came in contact with this beautiful gem material (presented to him as Spessartite) cutter John Dyer, based in Edina, Minnesota, bought as much of the rough as he could, and to learn more about what he was selling submitted some samples to a smaller gem lab for analysis. It was originally identified as a Spessartite/Almandine/Pyrope mixture and called Rose Malaya Garnet. However, to make absolutely sure which of garnet’s many strains ran through the gem, John submitted it to GIA’s mobile lab at the Tucson show in 2006. GIA, which has published extensive studies on garnet groupings and interminglings, took it back to their California base and after an in depth analysis of the gem's chemistry challenged earlier identifications and called the stone a pyrope-almandine-grossular garnet. Stunned by this classification, Dyer renamed the stone gypsy rose garnet—after the flower and not, as I first suspected, the entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee. (Note: The "Gypsy" Rose is a variety of rose which has a reddish orange color similar to this garnet instead of the typical purplish red color of most red roses.) “The word ‘malaya’ is only appropriate with garnets that are at least in part spessartite,” he explains. But he also acknowledges the poetic logic of calling it cherry garnet.
Whether called “gypsy rose” or “cherry,” Tanzania’s red garnet sets new standards for the presence of this color in garnet. Do the following mental exercise. Imagine pyrope, the most common red garnet. What comes to mind? Most likely, you’ll picture a gem with a muddy, over-dark ruby color. Next, conjure rhodolite. What do you see in your mind’s eye? If it’s a red rhodolite, chances are, it’s purplish-red. Now, instead feast your eyes on these gorgeous photos that shows a boisterously bold pop-tart hue.
But wait, gypsy rose has more going for it when it comes to appearance. Dyer, who has cut many of these gemstones, raves about gypsy rose garnet as much from a clarity as a color standpoint. “Stones can be cut to be consistently loupe-clean,” he says. “And that’s pretty amazing for a gem that is hard to find in eye-clean stones.”
No wonder Dyer bought as much of this material as he could when it was first offered to him in 2005. He is still working off that stockpile and some smaller additional lots he was able to buy since, and figures he’s got enough to meet current demand for about 5 or more years (stock estimate updated in 2020) while cutting stones between 3 and 15 carats (Currently the larger size rough is running out and our stock of rough is small on those sizes, 2-6 carats is a size we still have a good selection of.) and selling most of them at prices that keep them from retailing for any more than $400 per carat, with many costing less than $300 per carat retail. (Note from the John Dyer Gems team: Currently the cost of this rough has risen significantly due to increased scarcity, we are maintaining prices relatively steady since we are working from back-stock, but if we were to buy more at current prices our selling price would be higher.)
We have our doubts about whether he will be able to handle orders once word gets out about this remarkable garnet and his remarkable stash of it. Criss splurged on eight stones between 5 and 7 carats each at last month’s Las Vegas Show and he sold half of them in rings before June had even busted out into summer. At this rate of demand, he figures he’ll soon be needing replenishment stock.
For the time being, fans of gypsy rose will probably be able to meet their needs. But lately rough is reported to be of lesser quality and quantity. Unless supplies improve, jewelers like Criss used to affordable top-notch material may suddenly find themselves in dire straits with dependable sources like Dyer when trying to plug holes in inventory.
Would you like to wear a gemstone that will get people’s attention and admiration, yet be good value for your money? If so, consider purchasing one or more of John’s Gypsy Rose Garnets.
*Article originally published by Modern Jeweler Magazine and written by David Federman, some details have been updated by the John Dyer Gems team to reflect more recent information.
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